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Show 15 "Sold," the partner said and handed me a small green ticket: 1st Class Fare-San Francisco to Skagway, Alaska-$100. I clutched the ticket in my hand and hurried to the steamer, "Thanks, Pa," I whispered. "It was half your savings." The Guardian had accommodations for one hundred passengers. But there were on her decks five hundred men, along with horses, mules, dogs, and sheep. In my cabin were twelve men and three berths. All the cabins were similarly oversold. The threatened purser screamed that anyone who did not like it could get off at the first coal stop-or immediately, and two more men would take his place. "Throw them all overboard," a voice bellowed from the pilothouse. "Who's the big mouth up there?" a burly man asked, rolling up his plaid sleeves. "It's the ship's captain," the purser yelled, pushing him back. The crowd was stunned into silence. Then one brave voice sounded. "How's the captain steering this wreck if he's drunk already?" The purser did not answer. I pushed through the crowd to the foredeck, just below the pilothouse where the horses were quartered in crude stalls. I noticed that bales of hay were piled around the pilothouse higher |
